Nergal
The god of the dead. When a man dies, it is judged by the gods, but first it is judged by Nergal. Nergal judges if the soul is worthy of a life after death. If it is, the other gods decide where the soul should go, but it is Nergal that guides the soul to its appropriate place in the upper plane. Other souls may drift upward and briefly experience the afterlife, but slowly the souls are dissolved and nothing remains. The worst fate befalls those who Nergal sentences to an existence between life and death bound to Middle Earth, an undead existence. Only those who have insulted the gods deserve this punishment, for it is harsh. An undead can only hope for outside redemption through destruction, but the punishment is so cunningly designed as to drive the undead to become ever stronger, even if this only removes him further from salvation. So it was decided in the dawn of time, that Nergal should oversee those who travel to the gods unwillingly, as Heimdal guards those who travel willingly. But the other gods saw that men were in awe of the powers of Nergal, and began to make undead of their own. These undead were not punished souls, but merely dead bodies magically inhabited by spirits, a thing that could that wizards learned to do. Nergal continued to punish those who insulted the gods, not just those who insulted Nergal. But now He offered those who worshiped Him the powers of the undead in return for dedicating their life to Him. They would become undead, not as a punishment, but living eternally in the service of Nergal. This absolute dedication of the body to Nergal is arduous and will fail horribly if the worshiper is not totally devout. The temples of Nergal are everywhere, but few love His priests. Most feared of all is the cult of necromancers founded by Ogonjok, known as the Black Ring. This is because Nergal's priests (and especially those of the Black Ring) see humans as belonging to two separate categories: Those that join the gods after they die, and those who turn to dust. Humans belonging to the first category should welcome death as it brings them closer to their gods (but people from this category deserve the grudging respect of Nergal's followers). Humans belonging to the second category are of no consequence, and the loss of their lives matters little. All considered, a worshiper of Nergal does not think the life of another being worth a lot, and though he does not view murder as an end in itself, much of the necromantic magic involves killing and the use of dead bodies. Here it must be noted that all official temples of Nergal dutifully perform the rites of the dead, preparing the bodies for afterlife without tampering. The priests of Nergal are often used to contact the dead and are believed the best at raising the dead. Holy day: October 24th. Symbols: Black lion's head on black, a chain.